Linguine all’Arrabiata Sauce

Linguine all’Arrabiata Sauce

with spicy lamb meatballs

This is probably one of the easiest and greatest pasta sauces out there, especially for those with a fiery personality who prefer a whole lotta kick to their food. This feisty sauce gets its name from one of its key ingredients, dried crushed red pepper, which adds a load of subtle yet spicy flavor to the tomato based dish (Arrabbiata literally means “angry” in Italian).

There are a ton of versions out there on how to make this sauce, but as my mother says, “This is the only way to make it!” She would probably slap me side ways for making it with linguine rather than penne, which is the traditional pasta noodle to use for the dish, but hey, rules are meant to be broken and this Italian gal happens to have a love affair with linguine pasta, especially when it is freshly made!

You don’t have to make the lamb meatballs to accompany the pasta, but you will definitely regret if you don’t. They add a nice hint of extra heat without burning the roof off your mouth. I happen to love the lamb because it creates such a rich and hearty flavor that is absolutely out of this world, especially with the tomatoes used in the sauce.

So as my mother says, “Mangia People!”

*(For all you weirdo’s out there who don’t believe in eating Lamb Chop, you can substitute the 1 lb. of ground lamb with 1lb. ground beef instead).

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degree. Prep your meatballs. In a bowl mix all the ingredients together. Roll meat mixture into meatballs and set aside. Heat some olive oil (about 4 Tbsp.) over medium-high heat in a saucepan (this will be the same pan you make the arrabiata sauce in so make sure it has deep enough sides to hold the sauce and eventually the meatballs). Brown the meatballs on all sides. Place in a baking dish and cook for about 30 minutes covered with tin foil.
2. With the same saucepan, turn the heat down to medium. Add the pancetta, garlic and onion. Cook until they start to brown. While the pancetta, garlic and onion are cooking take the whole tomatoes and crush them by hand. So they are chunky and broken up. Pour the tomatoes, tomato paste and wine into the saucepan and mix together until the tomato paste is blended into the sauce. Add in the crushed red pepper flakes, sugar and salt and pepper. Bring sauce to just below a boil.
3. Once they sauce is just about boiling, reduce heat to low. Remove them from the oven and place them in the arrabiata sauce to continue cooking. Cook the sauce for about another hour.
4. While the sauce is cooking prep your pot of water to boil the pasta.
5. Drain the pasta, while reserving about ¼ c. of pasta water that it cooked in. Mix the pasta, pasta water and the sauce together.
6. Serve with the meatballs and some freshly grated Parmesan Cheese to top it with.